Here are some of my favorite quotes from key Christian articles around the web. Including, a post on forgiveness, and one on Church elders. Also, one from Pastor Colin Smith on God’s great promise for us.
Church planters will make mistakes. Other leaders will make mistakes. It’s difficult for a lot of planters to make the transition from the entrepreneurial sensibilities of getting something started to the pastoral sensibilities of leading a church. As conflict inevitably arrives, repent quickly and regularly, learn from mistakes, and grow in the application of the gospel in the church.
Then she explained she had found inner peace and freedom when she took God at His word and chose to accept His forgiveness. “I realized what it came down to was, I can either accept God’s grace and forgiveness or I can reject it. I chose to accept it.”
The fact is that the Bible comes to us in a variety of literary genres and styles, which commends flexibility in our methods of preaching. The storyteller needs to remember that substantial content, logical clarity, and practical application are vitally important to effective storytelling; and the pulpit orator must be creative and imaginative in his presentation of doctrinal truth if he wants to do more for his hearers than inform their minds.
One of the reasons the call to “just be good” might be attractive to us is because we assume everyone can do it. While expecting everyone to believe the same things is unreasonable and exclusive, expecting everyone to ‘be good’ is a bar we believe everyone can meet. But this assumption creates a very particular disposition in us. While it may give us resources to be more tolerant and inclusive, it also does something else: if everyone can ‘be good’ by their own will, we expect everyone to rise up to this occasion, and then when someone does not, whatever contempt we feel toward that person is justified.
I want you to hear this promise. God says to you in Jesus Christ when you rebel: “I’m going to do whatever it takes to get you back, and my steadfast love will not depart from you.” Your life may follow a different path as a result of what you have done, but God never abandons his own children.
The church, made up of Jesus’ followers, is his body on earth. It has been brilliant and influential at times, weak at other points in history, and increasingly divided over the years. Amazingly, the imperfect church is still God's designated witness, his hands and feet, to accomplish his will on this earth. The early...
Before I tell you the two reasons we need corporate prayer, let me tell you why flying makes me nervous: At some point on every flight an unsettling thought will rush into my mind: I’m in a metal tube, moving hundreds of miles per hour, thousands of feet in the...
Here are your key connections for the week, including two posts on the Church, one great post from Pastor Colin on getting into Heaven, and more: What Went Wrong with Nadab and Abihu (Derek Rishmawy, Christianity Today) What is stunning is that this episode immediately follows the Lord accepting the initial...
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